The roles of Nigerian celebrities in politics post #EndSars [Pulse Editor’s Opinion]

Nigerians camped on the streets for days and weeks until hoodlums took over the peaceful protests.

Then it was followed by the gruesome murder of some of the protesters at the Lekki Toll Gate in Lagos. That incident left many Nigerians in shock.

The annoying part was the government’s denial of any shooting at the toll gate despite many accounts including the live recording shared by now exiled disc jockey, DJ Switch.

To make matters worse, the government woke up one morning and suspended the use of Twitter – the social media app that played a huge role in organising the #EndSars protest.

Interestingly, during the protests, several of your favourite celebrities turned up on the streets protesting and clamouring for a change in the Nigerian Police.

While many of them were sincere with their voices being heard – shout out to Falz ‘Folarin’ Falana, Mr Macaroni, Davido, Wizkid, Runtown and a host of others, for others it was just all about photo opts and click baits.

The shocking part about the protest was how Nigerians including your favourite celebrities all agreed to have a face-off with politicians in the next general elections.

Well, maybe some of these celebrities forgot or have become as shameless as the politicians they now support.

Immediately the political season began to blossom, these celebrities began to give mixed signals.

First was Big Brother Naija’s Leo Da Silva who was called out for accepting to be on the round table of one of the programmes organised for one of the presidential hopefuls, Bola Tinubu.

Leo was one of those who were on the ground during the protest, sharing supplies, cleaning the protest ground, tweeting and taking racy photos too – what changed?

Or was it the time Instagram comedian Taaooma and some other skit makers visited the vice president of Nigeria, Yemi Osibanjo at the state house under the aegis of Nigeria Skits Industry Awards (NSIA).

Let’s not forget how singer Brymo said Nigeria needs a ‘City boy’ like Tinubu as president of this country.

Hold on – I know we all deserve to vote and support whoever we feel serves our dreams and aspirations, however, it looks like these celebrities have become two-faced.

Nigerian celebrities picking the wrong side isn’t a new thing by the way.

If you can remember when Nigeria’s former dictator, Sani Abacha, decided to run as a civilian president in the 1990s, it was a similar scenario.

Majority of the celebrities you call veterans and icons today all got paid to support the same man everyone prayed about before going to bed in Nigeria at that time.

It is sickening to see these guys succumbed after everything Nigerians faced in 2020 during the #EndSars protests.

They fail to realise that they have a huge influence on their followers and it tells a lot about where these votes will swing to during the 2023 general elections.

This is a country where terrorism has become the order of the day, the national grid collapses like a child learning how to work who keeps falling every other day and a failing currency to mention a few.

As we gear towards what will be one of Nigeria’s most important elections since democracy in 1999, it is left for Nigerians to determine who they want to lead the next government.